Download This PaperThe Rise of State Constitutional Law–Equality and Liberty
8 Pages Posted: 17 Apr 2020 Last revised: 4 Feb 2021
Date Written: March 23, 2020
Abstract
As the U.S. Supreme Court became increasingly antipathetic to the recognition of individual rights, a different story was transpiring at the state level where a number of state courts had broken free of federal dominance of constitutional law and were turning to their state constitutions to protect individual rights and liberties. The reawakening of state constitutional law has had its greatest impact in the area of basic human rights: equality and liberty. State courts have re-invigorated constitutional law by developing new doctrine and new lines of analysis to fulfill the promise afforded by the state constitutions across the nation. This paper discusses a number of the more important state constitutional decisions protecting individual rights. The most recent of these cases is "League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," in which the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled that a voter redistricting plan adopted by the state General Assembly amounted to an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander in violation of the Free and Equal Elections Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution. This stands in stark contrast to decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court refusing constitutional review of gerrymandering plans and thereby leaving state courts as the sole judicial avenue to challenge partisan gerrymandering. The paper concludes that state courts have surpassed the federal courts as the guardians of equality and liberty and that the renaissance of state constitutional law has been truly historic.
Keywords: Constitutional Law, Equality, Liberty, State Courts, Partisan Gerrymandering
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
